USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wilmington > Town of Wilmington Annual Report 1911-1912 > Part 4
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One room in the Whitefield school has been closed. 'There are now two schools in th t building. Grades one to four with a membership of thirty-one pupils are assigned to the primary room taught by Miss Gertrude Eames. Grades five to seven, with a membership of thirty-nine pupils are assigned to the grammar room, taught by Miss Carrie Swain.
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The South school was not so crowded this year as last, but as there were still too many pupils for a four-grade school the pupils in the highest grade were transferred to the Walker school where there chanced to be room for them. There are now thirty-three pupils in this school. There were no changes at the North and East.
As the existence of these outlying schools has been a matter of discu-sion in the recent past, I venture to express an opinion concerning them, though my short term of service makes me hesi- tate to discuss the matter. There seems to be nothing insur- mountable in these schools that will prevent them from doing good work in essentials. To assure good work in them they must have efficient teachers, regular attendance of pupils, ¡ ains- taking janitors and hygienic and comfortable rooms and out- buildings. There must be a sufficient number of pupils in grade to make it possible to maintain class interest, but not so m . ny grades that a teacher cannot do efficient work. When the men- bership in one of these schools becomes so small that it is ex- pensive to maintain and difficult to keep efficient, it should be closed and the pupils sent or transported to other schoo's. Trans- portation brings its own problems, however, that are even more perplexing than most other matters of school administration. At present there do s not scem to be sufficient justification for con- sidering the closing of the outlying schools. Our graded schools have not the room and are not located conveniently for consolida- tion.
It is a mistake to think that these multi-grade schools are less difficult to teach than are the graded schools. They are even more difficult except in the matter of discipline. As large sal ries should be paid in them and as efficient service demanded as in our two-grade primary schools, when teachers of equal effi- ciency can be obtained for them.
MEDICAL INSPECTION
Chapter 502, Acts of 1906 as amended by Chapter 257, Acts of 1910 is in part as follows-
"SECTION 1. The school committee of every city and town in the Commonwealth shall appoint one or more school physicians,
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shall assign one to each public school within its city or town, and shall provide them with all proper facilities for the perform- ance of their duties as prescribed in this act ; and shall assign one or more to perform the duty of examining children who apply for health certificates in accordance with this act."
Among the duties of the school physician enumerated in this act are the following-
"SECTION 5. The school committee of every city and town . shall cause every child in the public schools to be separately and carefully tested and examined at least once in every school year to ascertain whether he is suffering from defective sight or hear- ing or from any other disability or defect tending to prevent his receiving the full benefit of his school work, or requiring a modi- fication of the school work in order to prevent injury to the child or to secure the best educational results. The tests of sight and hearing shall be made by teachers. The committee shall cause notice of any defect or disability requiring treatment to be sent to the parent or guardian of the child, and shall require a physi- cal record of each child to be kept in such form as the state board of education shall prescribe."
The act also provides that children who have been ill or who show signs of illness in school may be referred to the school physician.
'This law has been on the Statute Books more than five years. Its provisions have been in practice in a few p'aces more than ten years. There is no reasonable doubt about the value of the services of a school physician. In each of the other towns of this district the school physician has rendered valuable service, not only to the community and to the schools, but to individual children who have been suffering from unknown disease or defect. The physician has relieved parents of no little anxiety concerning the safety of their children in the schools, especially at times of threatened epidemic of contagious disease, and have relieved teachers of a burden of responsibility that it is unreason- able to ask them to assume. The school physicians have rendered
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valuable assistance to the truant officers in a few cases of non- attendance and have been of service to the school committee in securing improvement of the physical condition of school rooms and out-buildings.
The cost of medical inspection is small-from $40 to $100 in the other towns of the district. This salary of the school physi- cian provides one careful inspection of each child at some time during the fall term, the inspection of children referred to him by the teachers, the certification of children who desire to go to work in factories, workshops or mercantile establishments, and the supervision of the schools in the event of a threatened outbreak of contagious disease. No equal expenditure for school pur- poses brings a larger return to the community.
THE NEW MARKING SYSTEM
I have ventured to introduce into your schools this year a sys- tem of report cards that is being tried in the other towns of the district. A similar form of card has been used in several other places in the State with apparent satisfaction.
The objections to the old systems may be stated as follows. The marking of pupils with accuracy by means of percentages or letters is a task of great difficulty, if not an utter impossibility. The teacher who thinks that she is accurately guaging the attain- ments of pupils in penmanship, for example, when she assigns a mark of 89 per cent to the work of one pupil and to that of an- other assigns 88 per cent and so on, is simply deceiving herself and possibly deceiving pupils and parents.
The function of the public school is not to measure and public- ly proclaim the mental calibre and moral shortcomings of pupils in the capacity of a public prosecutor (or rather persecutor), but rather to direct, encourage and inspire pupils to put forth their best efforts in such activities as shall lead to healthful, physical, intellectual and moral growth.
The school should not make unfavorable comparisons of one pupil with another, but should teach that anyone who uses his ability, be it great or small, to the best advantage of himself and his fellows, is worthy of high honor. In the parable of the tal-
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ents, the one who had received two talents and by their use had gained two talents more, received a reward identical to that of the one who had received tive talents and had gained other five talents.
Furthermore, even if accurate marking were possible, it is not desirable. We boast that this is a land where all are equal, etc. Why then should we employ a system in our public schools that makes possible, if not inevitable, the unfavorable comparison of one pupil of limited ability with another pupil who, through no . effort of his own, is endowed with very unusual ability along tra- ditional school lines? Such a system makes possible petty jeal- ousies among children, and is a common source of friction be- tween parents and teachers.
The giving of marks holds before the pupils a false motive for effort. The enthusiastic spontaneous work done by little children in the first grade who have received no marks is in marked con- trast to the effort, or lack of effort, sometimes shown by pupils in higher grades, where a "strict" marking system is sometimes em- ployed.
No system of marking and no organization of school work can entirely eliminate laziness or the lack of ordinary ability in some pupils, but the schools should, so far as is possible, so arrange its work and so bestow its commendation that each pupil has an opportunity to employ to advantage his talents, however limited or however great they may be, and that each may receive com- mendation according to his deserts. It is by no means easy to establish such conditions in the public schools, but there is then the more reason why we should try to remove as many as pos- sible of the obstacles that prevent the realization of this ideal.
Under the new plan adopted this year the teacher states upon a card IN PLAIN ENGLISH those things that in her opinion will best secure the co-operation of the parents and stimulate the pupil to do his best. This plan gives much better opportunity to meet the widely different needs of pupils and should cause less misunderstandings between parents and teachers. Though it re- quires more intelligent work by teachers, it is no more burden- some than the old plan.
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PROMOTIONS
Our aim in determining promotions is to place each pupil where we think he will receive the greatest benefit from the work of the next year. This does not always mean that a pupil should be advanced a grade. A report prepared a few years ago by a committee of the New England Association of School Superin- tendents shows that in eight-grade systems like our own approxi- mately the following percentages of pupils fail of promotion : In grade 1, 21 per cent ; grade 2, 14 per cent ; grade 3, 13 per cent ; grade 4. 12 per cent ; grade 5, 13 per cent ; grade 6, 13 per cent ; grade 7, 13 per cent ; grade 8, 15 per cent.
We are making an especial effort this year to give parents sufficient honest information about the school work of their children so that our pupils may have the benefit of intelligent and earnest co-operation from the home and that failures to be . promoted may not be unforseen. New rep rt cards have been prepared and will be sent home twice each term.
Grading and promotion are among the most difficult and trying parts of our work. Superintendent Ilervey, of Malden, once wrote, "The ideal school is by no means the one where all pupils reach the highest mark in every study ; but rather the school where individual differences are cheerfully recognized, and where each pupil, with no incentive but that which springs from a sense of individual responsibility, without pride and without shame, lives up to the best there is in him. The bright boy who learns with little effort should not be given the occasion to feel that, though he has not done much to merit it, he is really a very superior person, nor should the slow boy, when he reluctantly carries home his report, be forced to the conclusion that, though he has striven as never before to do his best, somehow there is something counted more worthy than faithful effort, and that he, through no fault of his own, has fallen short of it. A system of marking that lays the emphasis upon attainment, rather than upon faithful effort, can hardly fail to confuse ethical distinctions in the mind of the child and to discourage those who stand in greatest need of help."
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In April of each year teachers prepare a list of their pupils arranged in such manner that the superintendent knows the pupils about whose promotion or non-promotion the teacher has doubts for any reason whatsoever. When the superintendent visits the schools he records upon this list his opinion of the work of individual pupils, giving special attention to doubtful cases. Both oral and written work is examined, regular aud special tests and quizzes. The superintendent's opinion is recorded on these lists in data not understood by the teacher, in order that her judgment may not be influenced. At the close of the year the teacher and superintendent confer as to what action will promote the best interests of each pupil. We intend to do what we honestly believe will result in the greatest future benefit? to the child under consideration.
PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION
One cannot fail to note the large degree to which the functions of the public schools have been enlarged during the comparatively recent past. This is a natural and inevitable result in a democ- racy. Society finds the period of childhood one of the most promising fields for promoting social well-being.
When the Constitution of Massachusetts was adopted this de- pendence of society upon the schools was clearly recognized. It states that all instructors of youth shall "exert their best en- deavors to impress on the minds of children and youth committed to their care and instruction the principles of piety and justice and a sacred regard for truth, love of their country, humanity and universal benevolence, sobriety, industry and frugality, chas- tity, moderation and temperance, and those other virtues which are the ornament of human society and the basis upon which a republican constitution is founded.
Since that time the obligations of the public schools have be- come more widely recognized and have been defined in more defi- nite terms. For instance the laws of the State require all chil- dren to acquire a reasonably definite amount of learning, that they shall attend the public school every day the schools are in
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session (within certain limitations ) that certain specified subjects shall be taught in the public schools, as reading, orthography, arithmetic, good behavior, the effects of alcohol and narcotics, etc., etc.
These increases in the functions of the public schools have made necessary a division of labor. Schools have been central- ized, each teacher having only one or two grades, instead of eight or nine as in the old district school. Special teachers are very generally employed in music and drawing as well as in pen- manship, sewing, cooking, wood-working, physical exercises, etc. Departmental teaching where one person teaches only one or two subjects to several rooms-has assisted in making the work in some school systems more efficient, while in others special classes for the deficient and the defective have been established.
The increasing complexity not only in the work of the school room, but in the administration of school systems has resulted in differentiation of function. Originally local authorities con- trolled all the activities of the school. There is now evident a strong tendency toward centralization of authority in other than local officials. For example Massachusetts has passed laws bestowing certain powers upon the State Board of Education, Boards of Health, Superintendents of Schools, etc. The State specifies what must be taught in the schools, the number of weeks they must be kept open each year, the conditions under which the children may be employed. It requires that truant officers shall be appointed, school physicians employed, free text books supplied and careful accounts of expenditures kept.
This tendency is also evidenced by the increasing large share of public school expenditure that is being assumed by the State. Wilmington, for example, received from the State in 1909-1910 nearly $6.00 for every pupil in the average membership of the public schools. The town of Gosnold, with a tax rate of 13c per $1000 for school purposes raised by local taxation $6.81 per pupil and expended $55.68 per pupil from state and other contri- butions. Twelve hundred and fifty dollars of the salary of the district superintendent is received from the State. All or a part . of the tuition of pupils sent from small towns to outside high
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schools is paid by the State, while in some other towns, as in Wilmington, the State pays $500 towards high school support, provided the work of the school is approved by the State Board of Education.
This division of authority between local and State officials is not only inevitable, but it is desirable. Children are educated for the welfare of the State, not for merely local purposes. Hence the State should assume a considerable share of the responsibility and cost of education.
In so far as the school system is directly dependent for its suc- cess upon the willingness of the local taxpayer to contribute to the support of the schools and upon the interest and co-operation of parents, so far should school administration be local. It is im- possible, however. for local communities or officials to decide wisely upon certain broad and fundamental matters of educational policy. Hence the State has restricted the action of local units in matters affecting the health of school children, their employment in factories, and in those other matters previously mentioned. In towns aided by the State local authorities may hereafter select as superintendents and teachers in high schools only persons ap- proved by the State Board of Education. There is little doubt that this policy will be extended to include teachers in the elemen- tary schools in the near future. That high schools must main- tain a certain standard set by the State Board of Education in order to secure aid from the State and that all or a portion of the town's share of the State School Fund may be withheld if it fails to comply with the educational laws of the State are other mani- festations of this tendency.
Changes in the purposes and work of the schools have been equally important. In the early days when society was more widely scattered there were many occupations carried on in the household and on the farm that furnished useful employment for the boys and girls. Through this work the children came into close contact with material things and became aware of the existence of inexorable laws of nature. They learned how to at- tain desired ends with the means at hand and knew well the bene- fits resulting from intelligent and sustained endeavor. Amid
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these pressing needs of the home which necessitated so many va- ried activities by members of the household there was little that need be done by the school. If the child learned to read, write and cipher, he was well equipped to perform the ordinary econo- mic, social and religious functions of good citizenship.
Following the increase in population, the rapid growth of cities, the development of easy and speedy means of communication and of transportation, former conditions have changed greatly. The new social order demands a different type of training in the pub- lic schools. The child no longer has to do chores and perform definitely assigned tasks as he once did. His contribution to the sustenance, comfort and welfare of the family is usually very small. Those forms of training once supplied by the home must now be supplied by the school, insofar as they are needed by pre- sent conditions of society. Hence the demand for gardening, cooking, sewing, hand-work, moral, social and health teaching, etc., etc., in the public schools.
These social evolutions with the resulting changes in family life have put serious responsibilities upon the school in the matter of moral training. Coincident with the reputed lessening or re- laxing of parental authority it has become necessary for the school to change its methods of controlling children. The old platform has gone from the school room. The teacher is on a level with the children. Some school children must know the reason for and the reasonableness of a command before feeling under obli- gation to obey. The task of school management is becoming increasingly different.
The absence of home tasks seems to be making it increasingly difficult for teachers to get pupils to perform their school work creditably. "All play and no work makes Jack an idle shirk", is the corollary of a more well known saying. While we all recognize that school work should be adapted to the needs and capacities of the pupil ; that it should be of such a nature as to arouse his interest ; that the tasks assigned should be reasonably within the ability of the child to perform within the assigned time, etc., yet even when these requirements have been reasonably satisfied, there is some labor, possibly some drudgery, that the
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pupil must perform. Will the necessary tasks of everyday life be performed cheerfully and well if the school fails to teach the satisfaction of duty well done-the joy in unwelcome tasks creditably performed ? As Dean Briggs has said in "School, College and Character," "The first lesson of education is the lesson of getting down to hard work, and doing the work thoroughly. It may be learned by a boy or girl who never goes to school, learned in a mill or on a farm; but the highest work in this part of the world must commonly be done by people who for a greater or less number of years have spent the best part of at least five days out of seven for some forty weeks a year in what we call education. The first business of a school is to teach concen- tration, application, power of tackling intellectual work-quali- ties which sooner or later a man must have if he is to succeed in life, and which le got in his boyhood, if he had the right kind of parents, was the right kind of a boy, and went to the right kind of a school."
Not only have these new demands been made upon the schools, but our attitude toward the old subjects of instruction have changed. Arithmetic, for instance, must not be taught merely as number manipulation and training in thinking abstract relations, but it must be applied to concrete things in the child's environ- ment-be made real as the pupil was forced to make it real under former conditions.
More than this, we are differentiating the subject matter of school subjects by making a distinction between (1) those sub- jects and parts of subjects whose function is to bestow POWER TO DO and (2) those whose function is to develop APPRE- CIATION.
We feel further that the school does not perform its whole duty when it offers the children merely work in specific subjects. These subjects must be closely related to the real life of the children. £ In no other way can school work have its full value for pupils. Unless this relation is made, the school may actually unfit the child for success in life, if the education ( ?) is continued for a sufficient time. In short, Education must not be merely preparation for life in the distant future. IT MUST BE LIFE here and now.
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CONCLUSION
In conclusion, may I commend to committees, parents and' teachers this "School Teachers's Creed" written by Edwin Osgood Grover.
'.I believe in boys and girls, the men and women of a great tomorrow ; that whosoever the boy soweth the man shall reap. I believe in the curse of ignorance ; in the efficacy of schools ; in the dignity of teaching; and in the joy of serving others. I believe in wisdom as revealed in human lives as well as in the- pages of the printed book : in lessons taught, not so much by precept as by example ; in ability to work with the hands as well as to think with the head ; in everything that makes life large and lovely. I believe in beauty in the school room, in the home, in daily life and out of doors. I believe in laughter; in love; in faith ; in all ideals and distant hopes that lure us on. I believe- that every hour of every day we receive a just reward for all we are and all we do. I believe in the present and its opportunities in the future and its promises ; and in the divine joy of living. Amen."
Respectfully submitted,
S. HOWARD CHACE. Jan. 24, 1912
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HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
"To THE SUPERINTENDENT :
Kindly find herewith my first annual report of the High School.
In the first place, it seems best to draw your attention to the following conditions. The students almost without exception are ambitious, industrious, interested, enjoying their studies, obedient, wide awake, honorable, apparently determined to be men and women worth while ; listlessness, inattention and loafing are not frequent. The present cooperation of the pupils, of the teachers, the superintendent, the board, the public is, to say the least, helpful to the High School.
The attendance is good, being 95 per cent. There is very little tardiness, 27 cases to date (Jan. 1). There have been enrolled so far this year 52 different pupils. Last year there were 47 different students in the High School proper; i. e., not counting those in the ninth grade. Last year, in both the ninth grade and the High School, there were 74 different pupils. This year, there is in the High School and eighth grade an enrollment of 100 pupils. There were enrolled in the High School the first week of school last September 46 pupils, there are now (Jan. 1) 43 pupils. It looks as if there would be between 70 and 80 next year.
It is the policy of the school to lay more emphasis upon the quality of the work done than the quantity ; but because of the requirements of the law, the normal school, the college and society, quantity cannot be disregarded. Therefore, the pupils of the High School to do the required work must study hard. In this as in all respects, the highest efficiency of our High School depends upon a mutually sympathetic understanding between the school officials, the teachers, the pupils, the PARENTS.
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